Scott
Tinker has been invited to represent the Bureau and other
state geologic surveys at the EarthScope
Education and Outreach Workshop, an education and
outreach workshop in support of EarthScope, a major NSF research
partnership initiative embracing more than 100 universities,
the NSF, USGS, NASA, DOE, regional seismic networks, and state
geological surveys. The workshop, scheduled for January 30-February
1, 2002, will be held at the National Center Atmospheric Research
Mesa Labs Facility in Boulder, Colorado. Visit their website
at http://www.earthscope.org.

Getting
the Word Out: Linking EarthScope Public and K-12 Outreach to
State Geologic Surveys

Scott
W. Tinker and Susan D. Hovorka
Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin

ABSTRACT

State
geologic surveys are uniquely positioned to facilitate EarthScope
outreach. Outreach is a central element of state surveys'
missions, as is demonstrated by nearly all surveys who list
outreach conspicuously on their main Web sites. State surveys
are geographically close to the public and educational groups
that they serve and are well connected to state education
agencies and regional science education communities. Familiarization
with state curricula and testing goals will thus become a
priority if a large number of public schools are to participate
in EarthScope outreach programs. Additionally, because teacher
travel for training is limited by time and budget, having
a local provider would be an effective mechanism to increase
teacher participation. The applied research programs that
dominate state survey activities have given staff the expertise
to make current scientific results engaging to non-technical
and public audiences, which is key to successful EarthScope
education and outreach. Finally, state surveys have a long
history of diverse public and K-12 education outreach via
publications, public information services, Web resources,
and formal outreach programs, such as workshops, field camps,
and open houses. Many state surveys even keep experienced
outreach personnel on staff.

Linking EarthScope outreach projects to these already successful
and well-known geoscience outreach programs in state surveys
is an attractive and low-cost way of reaching the K-16 students
and the general public. An overview of the outreach program
at the Bureau of Economic Geology (Texas State Survey) serves
to illustrate how a limited number of participating state
surveys could serve as regional centers for EarthScope outreach
activities. This model has been used successfully by state
surveys for other types of collaborative research, such as
resource atlas preparation, the high plains aquifer coalition,
and Gulf Coast study.